Festivals and events

Many of the showpiece events marketed to tourists – Trooping the Colour, the Lord Mayor’s Show and the like – say little about contemporary England and nothing about the country’s regional folk history. For a more instructive idea of what makes the English tick, you’d do better to sniff out some grassroots, local-led festivities – a wacky village celebration, for instance, or London’s exuberant Notting Hill Carnival.

Most major towns and cities host public festivals, some dating back centuries, others more recent inventions, but everywhere there’s a general willingness both to revive the traditional and to experiment with the new – from medieval jousting through to the performing arts. The events calendar below picks out some of the best; for detailed local listings contact tourist offices.

January/February

London Parade (Jan 1; wwww.londonparade .co.uk). Floats, marching bands, clowns, cheerleaders and classic cars wend their way through the centre of London.

Chinese New Year (on or near Feb 3, 2011; Jan 23, 2012; Feb 10, 2013; wwww.londonchinatown.org). Processions, fireworks and festivities in the country’s two main Chinatowns in London and Manchester.

World Coal-Carrying Championship (Easter Monday; wwww.gawthorpe.ndo.co.uk). Competitors lug 50kg of coal through Gawthorpe village in West Yorkshire.

April

St George’s Day (April 23; wwww .stgeorgesholiday.com). Also, by happy chance, the birthday of William Shakespeare – and the Queen’s birthday falls two days earlier, on April 21. Traditional St George’s Day events include Morris dancing at Stoke Bruerne in Northamptonshire, Yate in Gloucestershire and elsewhere, as well as full-blown street festivals in Birmingham, Leicester, Manchester and London, where the Globe Theatre (wwww.shakespeares-globe.org) hosts a day of Shakespeare events. Also reckon on parades, folk dancing and celebrations at Stratford-upon-Avon (wwww.shakespearesbirthday.org.uk).

May

Padstow Obby Oss (May 1; wwww.padstow .com). Processions, music and dancing in Padstow, Cornwall; the name is dialect for “hobby horse”.

Helston Furry Dance (May 8). A courtly procession and dance through the Cornish town by men in top hats and women in formal dresses.

Glyndebourne Opera Festival (mid-May to end Aug; wwww.glyndebourne.com). One of England’s classiest arts events, in East Sussex.

Cheese Rolling (last Mon in May; wwww.cheese -rolling.co.uk). Mass pursuit of a cheese wheel down Cooper’s Hill in Gloucestershire – one of the weirdest knees-ups in England.

York Early Music Festival (mid-July; wwww .ncem.co.uk). The country’s premier festival of medieval and Renaissance music.

Great Yorkshire Show (2nd week; wwww .greatyorkshireshow.com). England’s largest region celebrates its heritage, culture and cuisine at Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

The Proms (mid-July to mid-Sept; wwww.bbc .co.uk/proms). Top-flight international classical music festival in London, with very cheap standing tickets.

Swan Upping (3rd week; wwww.royal.gov.uk). Ceremonial counting of the swan population on the upper stretches of the River Thames, dating back to the twelfth century. At Windsor, all the oarsmen stand to attention in their boats and salute the Queen.

Cambridge Folk Festival (last week; wwww .cambridgefolkfestival.co.uk). Biggest event of its kind in England, with lots more than just folk music.

Heritage Open Days (mid-Sept; wwww .heritageopendays.org.uk). A once-a-year opportunity to peek inside hundreds of buildings that don’t normally open their doors to the public. For London-specific events see “Open House London” (wwww.open-city.org.uk).

October

World Conker Championship (2nd Sun; wwww .worldconkerchampionships.com). Thousands flock to Ashton, Northamptonshire, to watch modern-day gladiators fight for glory armed only with a conker and twelve inches of string.

State Opening of Parliament (late Oct; wwww .royal.gov.uk). The Queen arrives at Westminster in a fancy coach with much pageantry to give a speech and officially open Parliament. Also takes place whenever a new government is sworn in after an election.

Halloween (Oct 31). All Hallows’ Eve – and Samhain, last day of the Celtic calendar. Now swamped by commercialized US-style costumes and trick-or-treating, although druidic ceremonies survive at a few sites (the Rollright Stones, for example; wwww.rollrightstones.co.uk).

November

London to Brighton Veteran Car Run (1st Sun; wwww.lbvcr.com). Ancient machines cough and splutter their way 57 miles down the A23.

Bonfire Night (Nov 5). Fireworks and bonfires held in communities all round the country to commemorate the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 – most notably at York (wwww.yorkmaze.com), Ottery St Mary in Devon (wwww.otterytarbarrels.co.uk), and Lewes in East Sussex (wwww.bonco.org.uk).

Lord Mayor’s Show (2nd Sat; wwww .lordmayorsshow.org). Held annually in the City of London since 1215, and featuring a daytime cavalcade and night-time fireworks to mark the inauguration of the new Lord Mayor.

December

New Year’s Eve (Dec 31). The biggest celebration takes place in London (wwww.london.gov.uk /newyearseve), with a fireworks display over the Thames and thousands of inebriates in Trafalgar Square, but there are huge parties in city centres nationwide. In Allendale village, Northumberland, locals turn up with trays of burning tar on their heads to parade round a large communal bonfire.

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Music festivals

England has gone music festival crazy. Every weekend from June to September now sees some kind of musical happening – and in July and August literally dozens of outdoor events take place simultaneously in parks, town centres, farms, beaches and disused airfields up and down the country, often drawing tens of thousands of people to camp out for a weekend of partying under (hopefully) sunny skies. Here are ten to choose from; check wwww.efestivals.co.uk for details of hundreds more.

Sunrise Celebration (early June; wwww.sunrisecelebration.com). Hippyish “festival of organic arts and culture”, held in Somerset as a prelude to summer.

Isle of Wight Festival (mid-June; wwww.isleofwightfestival.com). Three days of established rock and pop acts for thirty/forty-something groovers.